Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:49:53 — 50.4MB)
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In this episode, Daryl reviews a title suggested by our top Patreon backers as he reviews the now beloved super robot OVA series from 1998, Shin Getter Robo, which for the sake of avoiding confusion we might just want to call Getter Robo: Armageddon.
Introduction (0:00 – 34:18)
We asked for it and you guys more than delivered: fan feedback among those seeing Aim for the Top!: Gunbuster for the first time. Why, many of you were even compelled to do so thanks to our review of it! What a refreshing change of (perceived) pace! We read through all that had been sent to us as of the time of the recording, and received even more since then. Why, we got emails from people in BOTH Cambridges (the real one and the fake one, you guys can argue over which is which).
We also read the blog comments while we’re at it, and as Carl Horn notes in response to our Arion review, sometimes primary sources conflict with one another. Here’s the interview with YAS that Daryl was reading off from during that review, which we should probably edit into the show notes for THAT episode. We also make fun of Bandai–as is the style around here–for their recent utter squandering of all the fan goodwill that they had amassed thanks to Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury in a misguided attempt to appease…uh, somebody perhaps. Lastly, we hear a bit about anime fandom outside of the US, as we read an email from a listener currently in Zambia. Not only are there enough fans of anime there–check out their site–but they’ve also got a cosplay event/convention coming up: the Lusaka Comic Con! We’d certainly like to hear reports from attendees as to how that went, since we mostly only get convention reports out of the United States.
Promo: Right Stuf Anime (34:18 – 38:23)
Denpa Books are on sale this week! Be sure to get your preorders in for They Were Eleven, and while you’re at it check out Under Ninja, Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, and–for the bold and daring–the manga adaptation of Mobile Suit Gundam Char’s Counterattack: Beltorchika’s Children, which was the NOVEL WRITTEN BY YOSHIYUKI TOMINO~! that was the original (rejected) story proposal for the anime film Char’s Counterattack. Actually, there are a lot of fine Denpa Books titles, but we’re not sure how many Vampeerz fans are also listening to this episode dedicated to the further pursuit of unusually elevated levels of dinosaur hatred.
Review: Shin Getter Robo aka Getter Robo: Armageddon (38:23 – 1:49:53)
The votes are in, and the $10 backers of our Patreon…came to more or less a tie at the end of the day. We’ll review the other one at a later date, but it’s time to talk about Shin Getter Robo, aka Change Getter Robo…aka True Getter Robo…aka Getter Robo: Armageddon. Yep, there’s already a lot to unpack here. This would be the 13-episode OVA series from 1998, which for many American fans was their first introduction to Getter Robo anything. Perhaps a grimdark revival of a 1970s children’s show from Ken Ishikawa that is generally recognized as having introduced the concept of combining robots in anime and manga isn’t the best starting point? Then once you add Yasuhiro Imagawa, Jun Kawagoe and the whole tumultuous backstory regarding this production into the mix, it all seems a rather daunting proposition. Indeed, Getter Robo wasn’t particularly popular and little was known about it (or Ken Ishikawa) until recent years, such that in 2023 it’s now a beloved fan favorite among the diehard terminally online mecha set. If that describes you…well, this episode will probably make you mad, same way people get mad every time we talk about the robot stuff…
